Here I’m! Where are you? Way up right here! In the tree! So goes the tune of the Red-eyed Vireo, heard in almost each forested space between Kittery and Fort Kent from May till early autumn. True neotropical migrants, Red-eyed Vireos spend the nonbreeding season within the Amazon Basin, particularly in Colombia, Brasil, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru. Most depart South America throughout April, and over the course of some weeks or a month, make their means up by means of Central America and the southeastern US, migrating on clear nights and refueling throughout the day by feasting on the abundance of newly-emerged bugs. The first males can attain Maine by the primary week of May, however the majority arrive within the second and third weeks, simply in time for the emergence of leaves and bugs within the cover of our forests.
These canopy-dwellers are heard way more typically than they’re seen, and possess an enormous vocal repertoire, combining varied “syllables” into “phrases” that don’t repeat. In truth, there’s typically no similarity between the songs of males whose territories are proper subsequent to one another. While the males usually sing from treetops, Red-eyed Vireos forage and nest within the mid- and understory, and require forest habitat with layers of native shrubs and small timber. Their nests are normally constructed at these decrease ranges, with layers of foliage above to cover the nest from predators. They elevate their young on bugs, particularly caterpillars and different larvae, earlier than consuming growing quantities of fruit later in the summertime, which they subsist on all through the nonbreeding season. The return of Red-eyed Vireos to their breeding territories in Maine is a yearly reminder that conserving wholesome forest ecosystems is necessary not solely right here at home, but in addition within the neotropical forests the place they spend the remainder of their lives.
Backyard Bird of the Month is a function by Maine Audubon created for the Maine Home Garden News, the publication of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard
Photo: Jeff Schmoyer, used with permission
